If there was a God (spoiler alert: there isn’t), he would be up there in heaven today, shedding a tear for what happened last night in Montenegro. Subhuman filth racially abused black Englishmen, whose ‘crime’, so they saw it, was to be black. I read today that vile, racist chanting – the usual monkey noises – was clearly audible in the stadium and on BBC Radio Five Live from very early in the game, culminating in a volley of abuse directed towards Danny Rose when he was booked near the end of the game. My joy at an excellent England performance turned to abject misery. The last time I looked, we were in 2019. And it’s still happening.
Although I am today singling out the minority of vermin who contaminate the name of Montenegro, I am not unaware that we too have our knuckle-draggers in England. Raheem Sterling, who was one of England’s heroes again last night, knows all about that from a recent trip to Stamford Bridge with his club team. Action was taken against individual offenders at Chelsea and the club got off scot-free. Given UEFA’s track record, they’ll probably award Montenegro the next Champions League final instead. I’d be amazed if they took any meaningful action.
Speaking of Chelsea, I was upset to read the words of 18 year old Callum Hudson-Odoi. “When me and Rosey went over there, they were saying, ‘ooh aa aa’ monkey stuff and we just have to keep our heads and keep a strong mentality. “Hopefully Rosey is OK too. We will discuss it and have a chat. He has a strong mentality and is a strong guy so hopefully everything will be good. It is not right at all – I was enjoying the game too. We just have to take the win and go back home.” 18 year old Callum Hudson-Odoi subject to racist abuse. Think about that for a moment.
I’d like the think that the book will be thrown at Montenegro. If I was in charge, I’d throw a library at them. I am not remotely interested in the fact that the majority of their supporters did not engage in racism. Yes, yes; there will be those who pass it off because “It’s just a small minority”, but what happens when we say that? It happens again. Fine them a few quid? Make them play a few games behind closed doors? I’d throw them out of the tournament and ban them from the one after, too. See you in 2028.
ITV, for reasons I don’t understand, made no reference to the racism until long after the final whistle. With the army of presenters, pundits, engineers and technicians they must have had with them, how come no reference was made when it was going on? With that knowledge I’d have probably been shouting at the TV imploring our boys to walk off the pitch for the duration of the game, instead of enjoying a fine performance by our boys. Clive Tyldesley, we must assume, heard nothing, quite possibly because he was too engrossed with trying to come up with some half-arsed witticisms. No, that’s harsh. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
We are not back in two days of “Zigger, Zagger, Zigger. Millwall’s got a…” and you can work out the rest for yourself. But the spirit of mass racism on the terraces lives on. It’s been said a million times before that this simply has to stop. But you do know it won’t, don’t you? Slapped wrist, don’t do it again. Next?
